A RESIDENT has criticised Hampshire County Council for what he believes to be “a waste of tax payers’ money” surrounding road closures associated with the work of Operation Resilience.

The man, who doesn’t want to be named, was driven to put pen to paper by what he views as an inefficient, ill thought out and expensive use of contractor manpower as Operation Resilience sweeps in to repair country lanes leading into and through the village of Binsted, east of Alton.

While he believes the strategy to be heavy handed, the county council says the decision to employ an all-embracing approach to the eight-day resurfacing schedule will enable the work to be carried out as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Criticism comes as Hampshire County Council announced its intention to explore innovative ways to collaborate with key suppliers in a bid to “reduce spend and continue to deliver quality services to Hampshire’s residents at the lowest possible cost”.

The need to identify different ways of achieving this was the focus of a forum on July 24 which was attended by 50 representatives from the county council’s main suppliers, with the aim of building stronger relationships and working together to achieve savings.

With a gang of some 14 contractors identified as being used to close off the roads into Binsted last Thursday in order to facilitate long overdue carriageway repairs, our correspondent had good reason to believe that this investigation was long overdue.

In his job of work, which requires him to visit the rural areas, having seen a sign at the Eggar’s traffic lights flagging up that the route into Binsted was closed to the west of the village from the Clays Lane crossroads to The Street, he resolved to drive from Holybourne to Clays Lane and turn left to Mill Court and then up the hill and into Binsted via Isington Road.

In order to get to Binsted church – his destination – once in the village he needed to cross the staggered junction but was challenged by a road closure operative who prevented him from doing so, even though the road in question would not be subject to any roadworks.

Instead he was forced to travel out of the village to The Jolly Farmer at Blacknest and via the A325 to Kingsley, to access Binsted church via Hay.

In questioning how the village is expected to operate under such draconian conditions, he summarised: “As a Hampshire ratepayer, I am funding 14 men to sit around all day, the rest of the week and maybe the next week in six vans, one of which has driven from Wales with three men who are staying in a B&B. What did this add to the cost of the contract?

“The signs, at worst, were misleading and, at best, plain wrong. I came across at least three residents who were unable to go about their daily business, not because the road was being repaired but because officious people had shut roads unnecessarily.”

By way of explanation, the county council’s executive member for economy, transport and environment, Sean Woodward, said: “We are currently undertaking eight days of resurfacing work in Binsted to improve safety and increase the resilience of the road to bad weather.

“As with all schemes of this size it will inevitably cause some disruption and I apologise for any inconvenience caused.

“However, to mitigate the impact a letter was sent to 200 surrounding properties and businesses, and the parish and district council, along with advance warning signs placed around the area.

“The traffic management for this scheme was designed to allow a number of different operatives and machinery to work on site, at the same time, while still providing access for deliveries and residents when required. Operatives were therefore placed at strategic points around the crossroads to allow this to happen and protect the public and workforce from coming to any harm.”

Mr Woodward added: “Funding for this project comes under the county council’s highways contract, therefore any decision by the contractor to utilise their staff from different areas comes at no extra cost to us.

“Operatives are also expected to work in pairs when dealing with road closures due to an increasing number of motorists who simply ignore road-closure signs.

“Last year, nationally, more than 200 injuries occurred to road operatives, hence safety of all road users is the key consideration for all roadworks we undertake.”